Barbican Pirates 0-8 Revelstoke Rangers

Poor Pirates Punished Again As Revelstoke Go 2nd

(Sunday 5th October 2014)

The sun was shining across “Skull N’Bones” Park but sadly that would be the only bright spark after another woeful Pirates display resulted in a heavy defeat at Home. Going in to the game, focus & attitude was positive, a real belief that this was a winnable game or at the very least would be a close run thing, but despite starting well this was never the case.

The Pirates sporting their Away colours of Green due to Revelstoke’s Orange kits kicked the game off, attacking from right to left in the 1st half. Lining up in 4-2-3-1 formation due to resources available, Manager Kris Carpenter pressed in to playing duties at RB due to an injury to regular James Berntsen, Aaron Reed, Greg Davis & Enda Hannigan also returned to the starting side.

The early stages belonged to The Pirates in truth, keeping possession, moving the ball well & making some good challenges, an early chance to take the lead would follow, after only 6 mins, Sean Cross was on the end of a late lunge from the Revelstoke full back, swiping His legs from beneath Him, a penalty was awarded for the 4th game in succession. Having missed the previous 3 it was agreed the responsibility would be passed to James Ewing for the next one, He stepped up, a hush went across the pitch, to everyone’s frustration the hush remained as the ball flashed over the bar, the penalty had been missed. A devastating blow to The Pirates hopes of getting a deserved opener, it would pave the way for further disappointment on the day.

Rhys Jones, retaining His place ahead of usual No1 Richard Johns was forced in to action just minutes after The Pirates missed spot kick, saving superbly twice from the Away sides centre forward, it was a stay of execution, on 20mins Revelstoke took the lead, a low left foot finish from a long through ball by No11 made the break through, before a free header from a corner on 32mins made it 0-2. After the early promise it was again clear The Pirates were in for another long morning, Boss Carpenter & Captain Enda Hannigan frantically trying to relay messages to Assistant Manager Dave Miller to get tighter marking & push the defensive line further up the pitch, something that despite best efforts would fail twice more before Half-Time, 2 further headed goals BOTH from corners undid any chance of a comeback, at the break, once again The Pirates were out of the game, a hugely disappointing effort, especially looking at the goals conceded. 0-4.

The Half-Time break allowed the change of formation, moving to more of a 4-1-4-1, James Ewing sitting in front of the back 4 with the Midfield becoming a more flat 4, A system that showed some signs of working for the early part of the 2nd half. The downside to the change in formation was leaving Greg Davis often isolated up front & wide men Aaron Reed & Sean Cross cut out of the play, both working exceptionally hard for the team cause, but tiring at the same time, the spaces were opening up again & The Pirates were punished just after the hour mark, a further 2 headed goals via corners killed the game. Adam Luckham replaced Davis with Chris Stephens getting a run in place of Aaron Reed, despite not being in the best shape on the day! The last 20mins became very much a case of tired legs, broken wills & almost a desire to get the game over really showed, Rhys Jones guaranteeing His 2nd straight MOTM award with a string of superb saves to keep the score down, 2 further long range howitzers (75 & 88) capped Revelstoke’s performance, both goals worthy of winning any game, but when they registered as goals 7 & 8 it was a real kick in the gut to a dejected Pirates side. Not a good day for all in Green leaving The Manager with much to ponder.

A short sum up for this game in truth, The Pirates were simply not good enough. After showing real signs of progress less than a month ago today’s performances suggests the need for change, conceding 5 goals from corners is unforgivable at any level of Football & something that will be trained hard on in the coming weeks, new blood is something that is also being considered in the near future. Big improvements will need to be made by all ahead of next weekends derby match vs The Southway (Subject to weather) A bad day for all, but the only way is up.

The Man Of The Match award this week goes to Rhys Jones. When a goalkeeper is MOTM after conceding 8 goals some people would raise an eyebrow, but the truth be told without Rhys today the score could easily have been a awful lot worse. His confidence levels are shining through, excellent handling, brilliant shot stopping & strong strength of character make Ryhs the stand out performer for the 2nd game in succession. Congrats Rhys.